Recently, I attended a Cambridge Conservation Commission hearing on a child’s spray deck which is proposed to be conducted within the swimming pool complex at Magazine Beach with drainage over the land between the swimming pool complex and the Charles River.

2.General Magazine Beach Aerial Photos, Plans

First of all, here are three plans / areal photos showing Magazine Beach.

The first photo is taken from the MassDOT plans for the I90 (Mass. Pike) work across the Charles.

The second, a plan, is taken from current destruction plans.

The third (the upper of two photos), very telling, is a 2001 aerial photo.

Look at all those trees, 15 years ago and more recently. And 30 are slated to be destroyed in the thickest accumulation as part of 54 tree total destruction and growing.

3.Formal Destruction Plans, general analysis.

Here are the demolition plans for the spray deck. The long structure is the pool support building. The spray deck is proposed east of the swimming pool between it and the fence fencing off the park where the DCR, Cambridge and the Cheerleaders are fighting to destroy 30 of the 54 trees they want to destroy on Magazine Beach.

Most plans show Memorial Drive at the top and the Charles River at the bottom. This plan has them right / left, respectively. The support building to the pool is to the right. The swimming pool and the new construction is at the left. Intentional confusion?

Here are the tree destruction plans from the Magazine Beach destruction project. First is the destruction of 30 trees in that CURRENTLY heavily wooded park east of the swimming pool, below it in the above plan.

There is blatant fraud in that 10 trees in the eastern (right) end are called three. Looking at the destruction plans, these are the group of “three” trees on the right, about a third of the way above the bottom of the photo. DETAILED PHOTOS OF REALITY ARE BELOW.

The swimming pool is to the left (west) of the dense and soon to be destroyed park shown in the above plan

The swimming pool and support building are the area surrounded by broken lines. The support building is the narrower upper part. The spray deck is going into the right side of the wider lower area. All trees immediately to the right of this area are slated to be destroyed even though the state agency admits they are healthy.

Compare the plans. Notice the four trees slated to be destroyed which are simply shown as there AND DARKENED in the spray deck plans, except for the doomed little guys parking area which, according to the spray deck plans, has no trees.

In particular,

ALL FOUR trees lining the spray deck in the doomed thick park are doomed. Those trees are DARKENED in the swimming pool plans to emphasize them. Those doomed, HEALTHY trees show very clearly on the spray deck plans, plus

the 30 in the park, and plus

another four in front of the swimming pool building and

another SEVEN trees west of the building. A subsequent plan added the "undestroyed" ADMITTEDLY HEALTHY tree just west of the group of four ADMITTEDLY HEALTHY trees slated to be destroyed.

additionally, subsequent plans would destroy two more trees across Memorial Drive and not even in the Magazine Beach recreation area.

A propaganda map which spells out (continuing the 10/3 fraud) trees being destroyed and severely understates destruction impact calls all the directly abutting trees HEALTHY, but being destroyed.

Interesting that a separate project IN THE SAME OVERALL CONTROL “neglects” to mention so much destruction. But that kind of interesting coincidence is normal when you are dealing with this state agency and the City of Cambridge under its three manager City Manager Machine..

Here are tree photos in the area. I am picking out trees to the best of my ability. I apologize in advance for any errors. You have the plans above.

4.10 tree section of eastern end of dense park being destroyed fraudulently called 3.

I will start with the ten trees called three trees being destroyed. They are toward the right bottom of the park destruction map.

5.Next to swimming pool, east and facing Memorial Drive.

Now here are the four trees so prominently shown as alive in the spray deck destruction plans.

The fence of the pool is to the left.

These trees except for the gold tree are also slated to be destroyed. The swimming pool support building is to the left and the fence can be seen between the building and the camera.

Here is a different view of the last two areas.

Not a very good picture. Three of the four trees between the two gold trees are slated to be destroyed. The support building is behind the trees.

6.Trees west of swimming pool.

Proceeding westward. I think this is the grouping of five trees including the street tree slated to be destroyed west of the support building. The tall tree to the right in the group of tall trees does not appear on the destruction plan above, but has been added in later plans. To the very farthest right, above the horizontal lines (probably boats) are trees outside the destruction area.

Here is a photo of the group of five from the river side, looking through the pool area. One, maybe two, of these massive trees, as near as I can gather from the plans and change, is NOT being destroyed. I am not so certain about the lower trees. Please feel free to compare to the plans, remembering the addition of the tree to the west of the marked four.

And here is a view from the west. I would say that the large tree to the very left is being destroyed and the tree to its right and behind it are being destroyed as part of this grouping. The tree to the right is also being destroyed, but is not part of that grouping.

7.The bulk of the dense park, planned tree destruction.

Returning to the densely populated park to the east of the swimming pool, it is very difficult to pick out individually doomed trees. The plantings are so thick and the destruction so massive.

To simplify things, here is another copy of the destruction plans for the dense park area.

To the left, you can see the swimming pool support building. To the right is the little guys parking lot which is being destroyed. The plans call for the destruction of four trees between the camera and the parking lot. The plans call for the destruction of EVERY TREE, INCLUDING THE STREET TREE, BUT EXCEPT TWO within the curve of the parking lot. You have the destruction plan, you pick them out, please.

Here is the view from across Memorial Drive. The street tree to the left is doomed. Among the near trees, the big tree to the right, probably, and one other tree are not doomed. Once again, the plans are above.

And here is a view from within the little guys' doomed parking lot. Note that there are three major trees in this direction outside the parking lot, including one more magnificent street tree, doomed.

This is probably the other doomed street tree. The two other major trees are probably in this picture behind it, but cannot be picked out because of the magnificence of this excellent tree.

9.Summary.

30 trees are being destroyed in this excellent park. 54 trees are being destroyed in total in the Magazine Beach recreation area.

It is my very strong opinion that the government agency "responsible" for this area is unfit to manage the environment, the Department of Conservation and Recreation. It is my very strong opinion that it should be replaced with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The destruction was coordinated with Cambridge's ENVIRONMENTALLY UNFIT Development Department under the tutelage of the three member and very destructive Cambridge City Manager Machine. There is a new City Manager in town. His hands may be clean. It is too early to say, but very clearly, this destruction fits in the terrible record of his three predecessors. Heads deserve to roll in the Cambridge Development Department.

The Cambridge City Council has the capability BY AGREEMENT WITH THE DCR to take over management of Magazine Beach, or at least the playing fields. The Cambridge City Council has the capability, through its State House delegation, to get rid of the DCR, implementing the destruction of the Metropolitan District Commission which put MDC "planners" in the DCR. Those "planners" brought these terrible plans from the MDC and are implementing them.

About Me

Sponsored by Friends of the White Geese, Bob La Trémouille, chair/editor. Friends of the White Geese has worked since 2000 and has been a recognized Massachusetts, USA non-profit organization since 2001. Our goal is to defend the environment on the Charles River in Cambridge, MA, USA.